Russia Bans Top LGBT News Website

A court in Siberia has banned one of Russia's most popular lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) news sites without warning.

The administrators of the BlueSystem.ru said on September 19 that instead of their site's content the text of the Parabel city court's ruling appears on the monitor, saying that the site was banned in May.

The administrators said they had not been informed about the court's decision and their site was accessible all this time.

The reason for the ban has not been published on the court's website either.

Russia has been harshly criticized for its gay-rights record, including a vaguely worded law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors that many critics say has led to discrimination and attacks against LGBT people.